  Action/Adventure
This week: Edited by: Vivian  
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Hello, I'm visiting again, not as a reader but as a guest editor. I considered writing about adventure without much action, as found in Nero Wolfe stories, but then the baseball season caught my fancy.
Viv
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Batter Up
My grandsons' baseball teams play games already. Of course Granny and PaPa have to be at every game possible. I take my camera and try to catch as many action shots as possible. Baseball certainly does have action, often spells of action linked by times of tedium unless the viewer's child or grandchild is playing.
Sports make excellent fodder for action/adventure stories, poetry, or novels. A middle-school-aged baseball team fighting its way to a championship allows for action galore. Add a touch of mystery, and the adventure increases: my combination for The Base Stealers Club, a book for 'tweens (readers between the ages of ten and fourteen, even though adults seem to enjoy it, too). Some of the most interesting stories evolve around sports: Field of Dreams, A Team of Their Own, and Angel in the Outfield are just three examples.
The trick to making sports action/adventure well-written is to be sure that readers, whether sports fans or not, find the work interesting and understandable. I can write about baseball and describe games so that the non-baseball fan can follow the action because I understand baseball. I played the game, coached a Little League team, kept books for teams for my sons, and follow my grandsons' teams and games. Then using my teaching experience of being able to present material so that all students can grasp the underlying concept, I write the action scenes, giving insight to terms and happenings.
Hmmmm ... that last paragraph sounds like "write what you know." No one would want me to try to write a book about hockey because I know absolutely nothing about hockey except it takes place on the ice and people seem to enjoy hurting each other. However, if I did want to write about hockey, I would need to research, including attending many hockey games.
Another writing tip about using sports as the background, write for the audience. If the writing is for hockey fans, then the material included can be more hockey intense, using terms unfamiliar to people who don't know or understand the game. If for the general population, then the information in the work should be understandable to the non-informed. Writing for children requires a lower reading level than writing for adults. Vocabulary should be age appropriate and/or have a glossary of terms if needed.
Using sports as the background for writing action/adventure opens up a vista of settings, characters, and plots. I don't have many sports based stories in my port, but two there are "Lemonade" and "Brother Against Brother" .
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Readers Speak
Since I was the guest editor in February, I have some feedback to share.
Puditat 
Viv, a lovely discussion on showing and telling. A pool will stagnate if there is no flow of water into it. When something is stagnant, it's smelly and unappealing. The same applies to writing. Who wants to read something like that?
I really like your analogy of stagnant water and telling. Thank you.
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StephBee - House Targaryen 
Vivian, the following sentence stuck out to me: Action needs to be connected to the plot, not thrown in just for the fun of it, as padding. I wholeheartly agree. In today's movies there's a lot of needless action thrown in just for Action. I think a good balance of action in any story really helps it to shine. Steph
Thanks for the comment, Steph. Everything in a story, poem, book, editorial should fit, belong. Action is one component that is needed in certain situations, but should belong.
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Thank you for joining me this issue. If I can visit again, I'll be glad to do so.
Vivian |
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Action/Adventure: March 28, 2007 Issue [#1617]
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